Image Tools

Here are some Image Editors, along with links to official documentation if any exists. Feel free to suggest more applications.

Free

Paint

If you run Windows you should already have this program installed... it comes with the OS itself. Paint makes for a simple but decent image editor/maker. It lacks many of the features of the editors to come but it's also very simple and requires 0 install.

Paint Basics

GIMP

Open Source and Free for ever. Often called the Free Photoshop, GIMP is an excellent and very powerful image editor. It's learning curve is usually the main issue though.

User Manual

Paint.NET

A powerful and free image editor for Windows. I haven't used it much but it is consider around the net to be a pretty good program.

Tutorials Forum

Photoscape

Free photo editor for Windows and Mac, I haven't used it myself however have heard good things.

Photoscape Intro

Picasa, Picasa Web

Picasa by Google, it use to be an excellent simple photo editor but thanks to G+ has turned more into an identity crisis. Regardless, it's free and still a solid program... assuming you have a google account. It's also kinda more on the image editing side rather than image creation.

Picasa Help Guide

Flickr

I used Flickr for many years and o how it's changed over them, it's a bit like Picasa... except it hasn't gone completely insane. Flickr falls under the storage and touch up side... I can't say it's really for creation, however if you want a quick way to touch up, store and resize images... it might be a place to look.

Flickr Help

Paid

Photoshop

Photoshop from Adobe has been the king of the castle for a long time now... it's also famous for it's HUGE price tag. If you have the cash and are into image creation, this definitely the program you should check out.

Photoshop Help

PaintShop Pro

Another paid application, PaintShop Pro is aimed at professional and carries a sorta hefty price tag. That said it's a very good photo editing program and could be worth the price if you're serious about this craft.

Learning Center

 

In my opinion GIMP but I've seen a lot of different opinions on this subject. Usually it comes down to what works best for you rather than which has the most features etc. They are free so I'd suggest just trying them and forming your own opinion.

 

I can't say a local app is any harder than a webapp, it takes a simple download and install, which these days is just clicking next a few days. Webapps don't have an install but have the added complexity of uploading and download images. Some require creating an account and some even require you to use their cloud storage as your HDD which can be a good or bad thing depending on how well they designed it.

I think both side have there simple and complex programs but again I think it's all about comfort, find what works for you and then go from that.

 

I don't know, incompatibility with older browsers, missing plugins, non-update plugins, server goes down. Web apps can suffer from issues getting them to run too. I very rarely have issues myself with webapps and local apps, most local app issues would be games, I can't remember the last time a non-game program failed to run for me. Same goes for webapps (minus server down), had a few issues with games but none with non-game apps.

I would agree with some greater accessibility for webapps though. As a Linux user running into Windows only non-game programs happens, running into Windows only non-game webapps is very rare. However Linux users are few and far between. It is one place were webapps have a nice advantage though.